I’d enjoyed how impersonal it was while still fulfilling a depraved fantasy.
Vinn’s glare heated. “Tell me about the others.”
“There’s only one, James. I bumped into him at a party. I made out with him, and I got drunk. I woke up on the couch. My jeans were down, and his finger was on my clit.”
Vinn’s calm expression shattered. A severity rippled over his brows. “The same James at the bar.”
“Yes.”
“And he fucked you?”
“No, no. I pushed him off and left.”
He smoldered for a few moments. “What about the man who gave you the necklace?”
“What necklace?”
“You wear it almost every day.”
“Uh—we never even kissed.” A fierce blaze claimed my cheeks. “I loved him, but it was unrequited. That’s all.”
“He never touched you?”
Not until now.
I pressed my lips together and shook my head.
He forced air through gritted teeth. “What was your first time like?”
“I’m a virgin.”
He snorted.
“It’s the truth.”
Vinn looked at me for a while. “You should’ve told me.”
“Would you have treated me differently?”
“I guess not.” He flipped my skirt over my waist, his palm stroking the inside of my thigh. “How many sex toys do you have?”
“A few.”
“Like? Don’t get shy on me.”
I mumbled a response.
“Liana.”
“A few dildos and…butt plugs.”
A grin split his face. “You want to be taken in the ass?”
“I-I’d like to try.”
“Good to know.”
He slipped under my skirt, teasing my thighs before he tugged. Vinn taking off my clothes was magic, like the sweet kisses he planted under my jaw. They blazed as the fabric rolled off, exposing the pink triangle of my panties. I shuddered as the skirt glided down, and then he ripped it from my ankles.
He nudged my knees apart. His hands explored me, canvassing my legs, tracing my bikini.
I groaned. “Let me touch you.”
“Not yet.”
He smiled into my neck, nipping me. He sucked hard until a patch of skin burned, and then he lowered to my nipple to raise another mark. He cupped my ass, his fingers riding my seam. He pushed into me, still on the outside of my underwear.
I moaned, and then he slid my bikini to the side, sliding into my wetness. He massaged my clit. He descended to my wet mound, slipping in the river of my arousal.
I shut my thighs.
Vinn slapped my knee. “Open.”
I obeyed, and he resumed the slow stroking. A flat pressure curled over my pussy. His hand curved into my folds, testing my entrance. One finger sank into me.
Desperate sounds ripped from me.
“You could be telling the truth. Maybe you clench your thighs every time I touch you. Do you put your hand between your legs and wish it was my cock?”
My mouth parted. “Yes.”
He tore me from the chair. My knees hit the desk before he forced me to bow. My belly pressed into the wood. My toes skimmed the floor. Then he gathered my wrists.
Shit.
He snapped his palm over my butt. The bite of it seeped into my flesh. He spanked me again. A yell burst from my closed lips. He stroked the burn. He touched where I clenched madly on emptiness. Then he fucked me with a finger.
I drowned in a pool of silky pleasure as I sealed around the hardness, aching for longer. Thicker. I pushed against him.
“Oh, Vinn. That’s so good.”
“Want more?”
“Yes, I do. I really do.”
He slapped the fullest part of my ass.
It seared with a blooming pain. The sting of his blows radiated to my pussy, throwing gasoline on an already raging fire. His fingers plunged inside me, the wet sounds filling the room. He pulled out of me and whacked my ass. He rubbed my clit hard.
Holy fuck.
A searing wave twitched my hips. My orgasm smashed into me and left me reeling. Rich groans erupted from my mouth. I was a discarded marionette, but the relief I sought never came. My pussy still contracted. I groaned with a sharp frustration as Vinn yanked me from the desk.
His eyes sparkled as he cradled my heaving body. He watched me with a wicked smile as he ran a finger down my side, as though he loved how I shuddered. There was laughter in his gaze clouded with suspicion.
He tossed me onto the bed.
I slashed at his shirt, clawing it off in my haste. He threw it aside, and I grabbed the bulge straining his slacks. He sucked in when I squeezed him and broke from my grip to remove his pants, and suddenly his weight settled over me.
I gasped at the sensation of being held against a naked man. I expected him to throw me onto the mattress and rut me, but Vinn explored my curves, easing my thighs apart with a tap. He closed the distance. His heartbeat hammered my chest.
“You really want this. With me.”
I bit my lip, fighting the grin. “Yes.”
Vinn said nothing for a while. He stroked my hair, front to back, his fingers tingling my shoulders as they skated down.
“I trust you.”
He nodded, and he drew me into a soft kiss.
A hardness nudged my pussy, dropping into my wetness. He inched forward. He was so hot and thick, like a fist wedging me open.
I grimaced.
Vinn paused. “You okay?”
“Yeah. Just—are you all the way inside?”
“Not even close, baby.”
Baby.
My heart sang as he claimed my mouth, his hips rocking slowly. I’d played around with so many toys that it wasn’t torture, but he was big enough to make me wince. He rained kisses on me as he pulsed, his strokes deepening into thrusts that stole my breath. His ragged breathing hitched with an anchoring thrust. The full length of him pushed into me.
A sharp agony split me in two. I fought to inhale, my palms slipping off his neck.
“That’s all of me. Li, breathe.”
“Trying.”
He pulled back, relieving the pressure. He caught my leg, sliding his touch to my knee, which he marked with a love bite. Eyes shut, he rolled his hips.
The fullness from this position ripped a groan from me. I hissed as the pain melted into sweetness. The more he fucked me, the less it hurt. My thighs relaxed, and we settled into a comfortable rhythm. God, I needed our mouths touching—not having anything but the sheets to grasp made this unbearable.
Vinn had plenty of me. He gripped my hip, then he shifted to my waist and belly, cupping my breast. He punched forward with deeper thrusts. Ecstasy glowed through me like warm honey.
I tangled my fingers with his. I dragged him to my cheek and kissed his knuckles, my breath hitching. My nails dug into his hand. It was much better now, so easy. Lying under him while he worked up a sweat while fucking me was the best thing ever.
Amazing.
Every sensation heightened my arousal—his strained grunts, the obscene, wet slapping, the sharp scent of male, the chest hair tingling my breasts.
His arm buckled, and he fell as though weakened. He seized my hips, and he pounded me with an unhinged rhythm. It was like he shoved his cock into my stomach.
I gasped as my breasts crushed against his pecs. I explored the planes of his back as he caged me in his arms. I melted, my world filled with him. His hard body sailed in my hands. He clutched my hair and mashed his kiss into me. His tongue forced my lips to part, and I succumbed to his domination. I burned for more. He showered kisses over my mouth and jaw. My emotions and thoughts whirled and skidded. All I could do was take the rolls of his hips.
He kissed my nipples, rousing a melting warmth. He picked up a lock of my hair and inhaled. The raw passion lifted me to blissful clouds. I soared. My blood sang with the tempo of our bodies. I raked his shoulders.
Then I shattered into a million glowing stars. Ecstasy flooded my whole being as his cock anchored deep. A tremor heated my thighs as a gust of pleasure swept me away.
Vinn arched. His face squeezed, and he let out a delicious groan. Liquid heat jetted from his cock, filling me with wetness. I quivered with the sensation. I couldn’t speak. I did nothing but savor him.
His pulse hammered my breast. He panted, forehead touching mine. A bead of his sweat trickled to my cheek. His eyes crashed into mine, no longer pools of pitch-black but burning with a feral possessiveness.
My giddiness popped like bubbles from soda, exploding with Vinn’s growing smile. He looked at me under his lashes with an arrogance that demolished his sweetness.
I moved to free myself. Bitterness cut my chest when he resisted, eye-fucking me.
He kissed my cheek.
That one kiss sparked a fierce ache.
He pulled out, hands sliding over my body like furniture. He tapped my leg and slid off the bed. Then he disappeared into the bathroom to clean himself.
My stomach gaped hollowly. I’d saved myself for him only for it to be met with his indifference. This moment was supposed to mean something, and now it was ruined.
I trembled. My throat burned with a silent scream. I shoved off the bed and picked up my clothes, eager to put every moment of this night behind me, until I kicked something round and hard. The necklace he’d ripped off me dug into my foot.
I grabbed it.
I was a volcano on the verge of erupting, all my bottled feelings slamming into my chest. Years’ worth of anguish clawed at my throat as I met his puzzled gaze.
Vinn stood in his carpeted walk-in closet, pulling on slacks. He pulled on his jacket, but I laced my hands with his, stopping him from buttoning.
He resisted. “I have to go.”
“Stay with me.”
My eyes pinched shut against the rejection that would come. A sick yearning assaulted me. My throat tightened. I was tired of this. I couldn’t bear the sight of his coldness without breaking down.
I can’t do this.
He pulled me off him and pinched my chin. His lips curled with a small grin, as though he found me begging him to stay amusing. “I had fun, but I’m still very pissed. I’ll be back. Tomorrow.”
The stone wall within me crumbled.
My palm opened around the seashell clutched in my fist. My thoughts careened as I slowly untangled the chain and draped it over my neck.
Vinn ripped away from me and roughly tugged on his jacket. His stiff outrage was my only victory. The only power I held over Vinn was the pendant dangling on my neck.
He would never love me.
I had to shove him away.
He gave my throat a bitter glare, and left the room.
Nineteen
Vinn
Fuck, she’d been a great lay.
The best I’d ever had. I couldn’t get it out of my head, how her soft curves had molded into my body. She might’ve been a virgin, but she got my blood pumping like nothing else when she arched her back, ripped at my clothes, and slashed my mouth with her tongue. She should be held responsible for turning me into a maniac.
Thirty years, and I’d never made the stupid decision to fuck a woman bareback. I’d taken note of men like Michael, who’d ruined his life by knocking up a stripper, and kept my dick wrapped up. If a girl hinted at having stronger feelings, my ass was out the door. And yet, I’d broken every rule tonight, and I wanted to do it again. I might’ve gotten her pregnant. A sick part of me hoped I had.
I could keep her forever.
The reckless thought consumed me with a flame before I shoved it away. Jesus, I’d lost my mind. I’d officially gone off the deep end, if I was that desperate.
The shot of whiskey trembled in my grip. I’d headed straight for Sunset Tavern, and I’d stared at the glass for the last fifteen minutes. Hanging out in bars was terrible for my sobriety, but if I didn’t drown myself in alcohol, I would do something insane.
A body bumped into my chair. Only one motherfucker would be so cavalier with my personal space, and I had no interest in listening to his snide comments all night.
Michael leaned against the counter, his teeth flashing with a fake smile. “Let me guess. You’re in the doghouse for being a prick.”
“We’re not fighting.”
“Then why are you at the place where you find all your hookups?” A deadly edge crept into his voice.
“I don’t want anyone else.”
I swallowed the drink as the truth burned in my chest. Liana was mine, wedged so far inside my chest I couldn’t breathe without a sharp ache.
Was it the same for her?
No.
She couldn’t go a day without pining after the other man, regardless of her “crush” on me.
I hurled the glass at the wall. It shattered, raining on the peanut-shell-covered floor.
Michael gave me a vicious side-eye. “What the hell happened?”
“None of your business.”
“She’s still my sister,” he warned in a deep growl. “And I’m waiting on your wedding invitation. Don’t think I haven’t noticed, asshole.”
“There will be a wedding.”
And hopefully, a baby.
God, I was fucking nuts.
“When?” Michael pressed, shoving a tumbler of seltzer in my hands. “She’ll be showing soon. There’s nothing tackier than a bride with a baby bump.”
“Within a month.”
“Then you need to get with the program.”
He was absolutely right.
“Thanks for the pep talk.” I patted his shoulder, and he flinched. “Later.”
I grabbed my coat and slid off the stool, leaving the bar.
My mood was black.
My hatred for the man who gave her the necklace clogged my lungs like toxic smoke. I couldn’t breathe without the sting of a thousand tiny knives. This was unlike me. I didn’t become a fuming wreck when they wore another man’s jewelry. I didn’t stalk their exes.
Exes.
The frat bro’s round face swam in my mind, poisoning my stomach. James had signed his own death warrant. He’d touched parts of Liana I considered mine. He’d almost raped her.
Unforgivable.
I parked my car in a blackout area.
Then I strolled into the sports dive doubling as a miniature golf course that advertised half-off pints. The male, early twenties crowd packed every available spot. Pitchers of beer stood precariously on steel tabletops. It would’ve been easy to swipe one, but I honestly had no interest in the cheap bilge they were drinking.
I’d come here for something else.
Or rather, someone.
I had so much shit on my plate, but this was personal.
I entered a room filled with pool tables. I bellied up to the counter, finding the pasty-faced bastard ignoring the queue of customers to chat with a girl. James teased a finger around her hair and tugged. She laughed and swiped his hand away.
He winked at her as she headed for the bathrooms, and then he grabbed her half-empty mug. He adjusted his fingers, slipping powder over the rim. The small, white grains vanished as he refilled her drink.
Well, that sealed it.
James was a dead man.
It hadn’t taken long to find him. Poking around Liana’s social media gave me all the information I’d needed. After she’d casually mentioned her near-rape with the frat bro, I’d made it my mission to erase him from Liana’s life. Judging by what I’d witnessed, I was doing the female population at Bourton University a solid.
I knocked over her glass.
The roofied beer splashed him in a wide arc. He jumped back and groaned.
“What the fuck, man? Damn, it’s all over me.” He mopped himself, the wet stain on his crotch growing. His sour gaze landed on me. “You’re that guy. Liana’s bodyguard.”
“Fiancé.”
“Oh yeah, Queenie told me.” H
e seized a dripping rag and cleaned under the taps. “Congrats. That’s cool. Super happy for you guys.”
The jamook must’ve finally Googled me. I liked him better when he had a pair of balls, although his creep-factor suggested he never possessed any.
“Crazy to run into you here.” He wrung the towel, tossing it in the sink. “Didn’t think this place would be your scene.”
“I’m all about cheap beer and low expectations.”
He flushed. “Look, I haven’t touched her. I did what you said. I don’t exist to her anymore.”
Not yet.
I smiled. “I know.”
He nodded, tensing. “You here with Li?”
God, I hated her name on his lips.
I shook my head. “I was in the neighborhood and spotted you inside. Thought I’d say hello.”
A fracture snapped through James’s thin veneer of calm. His cheeks blazed red.
What I wouldn’t have exchanged for two hours with him and my Ka-Bar knife.
“W-what would you like? IPA?”
“Give me what you gave that girl.”
His wide eyes locked on mine.
I could practically hear his thoughts. No doubt, he imagined his coveted internship, his enrollment at a prestigious Ivy League, and his shiny, bright future vanishing in a puff of smoke.
And it would.
He filled a glass and banged it on the counter. “On the house.”
I peered into the crowd. “That chick is headed this way. I’ll leave you alone. Thanks for the beer.”
“You’re—you’re welcome.”
I winked at him and left the bar, waiting for him outside.
Minutes later, he used the service exit, hoodie drawn tight, hands deep in his pockets.
I peeled from the wall and grabbed him.
He flailed as I cupped his mouth. My bicep slid over his throat. As I compressed his neck, he clawed at my forearm, slapping me with pathetic, meaty thuds before he passed out with barely a whimper. Jesus, Liana fought me with more violence than this little bitch. It ended so quickly that my heartbeat never picked up the pace.
I bound him with zip ties and threw him in the trunk. Then I wound tape around his skinny ankles and mouth. I could’ve made his death quick and painless by bagging his head, but that was too bloodless. Too easy. And I wanted him to think he had a chance.
Faked: A Dark Mafia Romance Page 15
